ENG105: Writing in and about the Social Sciences

This page lists specific resources for the ENG105 research assignment.

Starting Your Research with Library Databases

  • Start with the library's main search box to find books, e-books, articles and videos through a broad, shallow search of 100 of our 120 databases.
    • Sign in with your college username/password to save your searches and results.
    • Because COVID-19 is new, articles (not books) will be most useful to you.
      • Books take longer to be created, and may offer historical views of previous pandemics.
      • You may limit articles to peer-reviewed or scholarly.
  • Then, search individual databases more deeply: ProQuest Central and Statista, for instance. 
  • In any database, try an Advanced Search, using truncation (*), Boolean logic (AND, OR) and phrase searching as wanted:

                         "herd immunity"
                AND  coronavirus* OR covid* OR pandemic* OR epidemic*


   Start Your Research Here:   

Take a look at the Ask a Librarian link below for answers to common questions. 

For Quick Background

For quick overviews of your research topic, start with these encyclopedia-like databases.

  • Mouse over for descriptions.
  • Log in with your SUNY Adirondack username/password if prompted. 

For general subjects: 


For specialized subjects: 

More Statistics

Social Science Article Databases

Make sure to search the ProQuest Central and Statista databases: 

Fill in any research gaps with these article databases: 

Scholarly Sources

Here are links to two article searches and an example of a peer-reviewed (scholarly) article.

  • Click the "Peer-reviewed" limiter to get only scholarly articles.

This is an example of a scholarly article, found by clicking "Peer-reviewed" on the search page.

How do you know a "Scholarly Article" (also referred to as academic articles or peer-reviewed articles) when you come across one?

Articles in different fields may differ slightly. A scholarly article comparing two works of literature will lack data, graphs, and discussions of methodology. A scientific paper about a new medication SHOULD have all of these things:

   Parts of a Scholarly Article: An abstract Journal title and volume number Author(s) with degrees/certifications in their field In-text citations or footnotes Introduction, body paragraphs, a conclusion Works cited/ references/bibliography

Options for Searching the Web

Alternate search engines offer more privacy for searching the free web. 

This page describes how to do a Google Advanced Search:

Subjects: English Courses